


Half and Half

by orphan_account



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Cultural Differences, Elf/Human Relationship(s), Family Dynamics, First Age, Gen, Haladin | House of Haleth, Half-Siblings, House of Finwë - Freeform, Laws and Customs Among the Eldar, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 11:16:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10966101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Haleth and Caranthir discover that Men and Elves have different views on remarriage and half-siblings.





	Half and Half

Haleth tired of Lord Caranthir and his Elves long before she could tell them to go to Hell, in all politeness, so she was often forced to grit her teeth and suffer.

She had no idea why they dawdled. "Perhaps he fancies you," her sister-in-law teased, and Haleth had laughed so hard that one of her wounds split open — to the shock and horror of her admirer the Elf-prince.

Caranthir thought that every cough foretold her death, no matter how many times she explained otherwise. The sight of her blood nearly made him faint.

He fussed over her like a mother hen until Beldan, her only attendant that evening, yawned. "Can I go to bed?" he asked her plaintively, and Haleth gave him leave while Caranthir glared.

"Your servant is presumptious and lazy. You should get another," he said coldly once the boy had gone.

"He is no servant, my lord. He is my nephew."

Caranthir blinked. "I thought Haldan was your only nephew," he said.

"He is the only son of my brother Haldar, but I have a nephew and two nieces by my elder sister." He still looked bewildered, so Haleth added, "Aganel is the child of my mother's first marriage. You have met her before, on the night of your arrival."

Aganel had complained of his rudeness and condescension for hours afterwards.

Caranthir started. "Your mother was married twice!"

Elves were strange creatures, and High Elves were even stranger than their kin to the east. Such a minor revelation did not deserve surprise or dismay. "Aganel's father died before our mother met Haldad," she said curtly before he started to think that her poor, dead mama had taken both men to the same bed.

"My grandfather, too, married a second time after his wife died," Caranthir confided in a whisper.

Haleth nodded in acknowledgement. Did he expect her to express the same shock that he had?

"Are you the product of the first marriage or the second?" she asked awkwardly after too long spent in silence.

"The first!" he proclaimed, insulted, but he blushed furiously when he realized that his offense served as an unintended insult to his companion.

Haleth made no reply, and Caranthir hastened to earn her forgiveness.

"I am sorry to hear that you have half-siblings, my lady," he said with genuine sympathy. "My father considered his own a scourge, and he did not bear a greater love for his father's other wife. Such unions are the unfortunate result of the Marring of Arda."

Haleth would not waste her time correcting him. "Aganel is no scourge. She is a dear friend to me, and she always has been," was all she said.

Caranthir stared at her until the chieftain grew weary of entertaining him in such a manner. "I should like to sleep tonight as well," she said, and the Elf wished her a speedy recovery and fled her tent.

Haleth swore, then and there, to die only when it would most upset him.


End file.
